Life, Loyalty and Eternal War
by CrazyMihn
Summary: Following the events of Life Death & the Greater Good, Shas'ui Oni'ci and his team become Battlesuit pilots, and assigned to Commander Shadowsun's personal force. Mourning the apparent death of their close friend Kles'ro to Chaos, they find that their missing teammate may still live. But what has happened to him? In the grimdark future of the 42nd millennium, there is only war
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's preface: I'll make this simple: Read 'Life, Death and the Greater Good' before reading this. It will introduce you to Oni'ci and his team, as well as provide a description of the events preceding this story. Thank you._**

 _Planet Hyros, Damocles Gulf. 034.002.M42_

I sat in the cockpit cradle of my Crisis suit as the Manta's lower transport hold rumbled from the stress of re-entry. Although I knew that the Fio'tak armour could stand up to the fire of a dozen Gue'la cannons, I still felt trepidation as the massive spacecraft soared towards the surface of what would be my first engagement with Shaserra's personal cadre. As the massive craft began to slow, I began running through my prebattle checklist, running quick diagnostics on my Crisis battlesuit systems, checking my laser-link with my la'rua, and generally trying not to worry about anything. This was not my first engagement, but it was my first time arriving as part of the first wave. As I ran through my last few system checks, I thought back to how I'd gotten here after that fateful battle a long time ago.

After my team had completed our mission, losing one of our teammates to the forces of chaos in the process, we had been given our trial-by-fire and promoted. As I was the Shas'ui, I had gained the rank of Shas'vre, while my fellow teammates had been all promoted to Shas'ui. Immediately afterwards, we were assigned to Shaserra's personal cadre, a force I had always wanted to be part of. 'Shaserra'saran' or 'Shadowsun's Firecore' was a unit known for unorthodox methods of combat, and for fiercely individualistic members. Despite this, they still followed the teachings of the Greater Good. Their leader was no less than Shadowsun, supreme commander of the Fire Caste, and famed leader of the Third Sphere Expansion. However, even in my happiness, I did not forget that one of our team would never be joining our team again. Kles'ro was gone, and his loss was heavy on my mind. I had been responsible for my team's safety, and I had failed him on his first op.

As I thought through this, I noticed that the Manta had slowed considerably. A amplified voice boomed over the Manta's internal comms network:

"One minute till drop. All units, prepare for drop. Repeat, One minute till drop."

I primed my suit's gravimetric motors, and disengaged the external cradle frame. Simultaneously, the suit's glowing green eye lit up, and it stood tall. The maintenance cradle that had held the armour steady through transit retracted into the floor, panels closing over their hidden compartments. Finally, I fired up the Neural Link. I closed my eyes, and experienced a whirlwind of colour behind my closed eyes. When I 'opened' my oni, I was seeing from the perspective of my Xar'vesa. I flexed the suit's motors, my own body's muscle impulses sending commands to the suit. Standing the suit fully upright, I powered the twin Cyclic Ion Blasters that were equipped to the suit…to _my_ arms, their triple barrels spinning briefly and beginning to glow. As I powered up the battlesuit's communications array, the other members of my La'rua began reporting in via the team's encrypted laser-link.

 _"Shas'ui'vre Sa'cea Kais Shas'sha Mont'yr reporting in. Crisis suit online. Ready for Combat"_

Kais was my Terigun, and was unusual for a member of the Fire Caste. She had a natural affinity for machines, and tended to sheer away from high-intensity combat. When she received her Crisis suit, she had (without informing me) converted the suit into a battlefield support unit, which could repair the Crisis Units of our team during operations. After receiving some heat from me, I agreed to send in a application to our immediate superior, Commander Jadesword, to have Kais assigned as our Shas'sha (or combat engineer). Shas'sha were usually Earth Caste auxiliaries who were given the role on a temporary basis. However, there were other Fire Caste warriors who performed such duties. Despite having some reservations about the role change, Commander Jadesword agreed to field Kais as a combat engineer. So, Kais had earned the title _Shas'sha_ , usually a honorary name given to Earth Caste. Her suit only carried a single weapon: a Plasma Rifle that she rarely used. Her other usable hardpoints were dedicated to repair equipment for her new role.

 _"Shas'ui'la Sa'cea Xumxa Mont'yr online. All systems go Shas'vre Oni'ci."_

Xumxa was one of the younger members of my team. He had been Kles'ro's Kou'to'vesa, and therefore felt the most pain from his loss. Xumxa was the fastest among us on foot, and had been given permission to equip his basic XV8 with a Vectored Retro Thruster unit, better enhancing his flight capabilities. His suit was also equipped with a pair of burst cannons, and he had stripped most of the non-critical armour off with Kais's help to further increase his speed. This had made him one of the more fragile units in the field, as his suit had significantly less armour than even the most basic crisis. However, he had increased his battlefield performance to the point where he was unhittable in the simulators, getting almost perfect survivability ratings in combat simulations. However, he was still finding it hard to get over the loss of his best friend, even through slightly more than two years had passed.

 _"Shas'ui'la Sa'cea R'alai'tadie Mont'yr ready for combat. On your order Shas'vre."_

R'alai'tadie (or simply 'R'alai' to us, her La'rua) was one of the most volatile Fire Caste soldiers I had had the pleasure of meeting. She was very temperamental, and at the same time was a very caring person when it came to her friends and allies. During the two years that had passed, she had been assigned by roster to a mating partner, and had spent a year looking after the baby. She had come back a changed person, but had quickly changed back to her usual self. As usual, her mate had stayed after the first year to raise the baby, before the infant was either sent to the Fire Caste Training Domes, or was indoctrinated into a non-combat peacekeeping role like a planetary Tai'quaz'dan. Either way, she had been reassigned back to my la'rua as was normal. She piloted our team's XV8-02 Iridium battlesuit, a bulkier and better armoured version of the standard Crisis. She bore a full loadout of Fusion Blasters, fulfilling a anti-tank role on the battlefield.

 _"Shas'ui Daly'th Shi R'ka'sha Mont'yr ready and waiting. XV87 reporting all systems check."_

Shi was the black sheep in our la'rua. He was not from the sept world of Sa'cea like the rest of the team, instead originating from the world of Daly'th, a planet known for producing hardy Fire Warriors. In addition, he was the sole member of our team to pilot a experimental battlesuit, the XV87 Crisis Sniper. The XV87 was developed for the current Fifth-Sphere Expansion, and was a crisis suit retrofitted to carry a stripped-down version of the Heavy Rail Rifle that XV88 Broadside battlesuits carry as standard wargear. The new rail weapon was called the Heavy Rail Carbine, in reference to the experimental weapon I once carried. This experimental battlesuit weapons sacrificed some power and range for sheer volume of fire and a lighter construction. This was then combined with noticeably boosted accuracy from the improved targeting systems that were to permeate into the production-model Crisis over the next few Tau'cyr. In addition to the targeting systems and Heavy Rail Carbine, the suit featured a pair of twin Smart Missile System units mounted on the shoulders. However, due to these upgrades, the suit could not achieve flight, and couldn't move as fast as a normal suit. To remedy this, Earth Caste engineers modified the initial prototype so that it could perform short rocket jumps. They then sacrificed some armour to allow it to move as fast as the standard crisis on foot. This model was then given limited production time, before the completed units were shipped to Shadowsun's armies on the frontier of Tau Space.

I acknowledged all the pings, and waited for the craft to begin hovering. As it did, the massive bay door opened up, lowering as a ramp. Fire from the masses of Gue'la soldiers on the ground began bouncing off the shields protecting the bay doors. The two Devilfish transports containing the initial wave began skimming down the ramp as the two TX7-02 Fire Support Hammerheads began pumping heavy burst cannon fire into the massed gue'la infantry. Then, it was time for my team to deploy. I gave a signal over the signal link, and we bounded across the reinforced floor-plating of the Manta, before rocket jumping off the lip of the bay door, and landing in formation in front of the two Strike Teams pinned down by Gue'la fire. I immediately concentrated my fusion blasters on a nearby tank, a outdated hunk of armour with ancient _Treads_ moving it along. It took five direct hits, causing it's ammunition supply (outlined on my HUD overlay by my suit's target lock module) to detonate. The tank blew it's turret high into the sky, the warped piece of metal crashing down on top of a small squad of human soldiers. The smoke from the blazing wreckage made the already darkening sky cast shadows across our grey-painted suits. To my sides and my rear, my friends fanned out in a diamond formation, their individual weapon loads raking the gue'la ranks with fire. I took a volley of ineffectual laser fire from my right, my refractive armour coating diffusing the beams with incredible efficiency. Before I could react, a group of Fire Warriors took out the unit with their pulse rifles. I sent a acknowledgment ping to their Shas'ui. He sent another back, along with the markerlight data for a armoured walker unit approaching from the east. I signalled my team, and we headed towards the designated target, running serpentine across the scarred earth. As we did, four Tetra Scout Speeders fell in alongside us, their pathfinder pilots keeping pace easily.

 _"Show offs,"_ said Kais across the communications net, keeping pace alongside my armour. Xumxa was to my right, with R'alai and Shi following to the rear. We formed a rough pentagon, our grey armour proudly displaying a stripe of deep red. While our armour was in the standard Sa'cean grey scheme, our orange sept colours decorating our heads and shoulders (with the exception of Shi, as his sept colour was not orange, but the green of Daly'th), the red stripe along the centre of our chest marked our secondment to the Shaserra'saran, and was the colour of Vior'la, Shadowsun's home sept. We felt unstoppable. Then, one of the speeders was destroyed by a lance of bright red light. Then another, followed by the rest of the four-man team. My targeting vesa tracked the source back to our intended target, a grouping of ten two-legged walkers, strutting with a unsteady gait towards us. Gue'la machines. They were tall, and had a long-barrelled laser weapon under each of their angular noses. Their canopies were armoured, and they flew the flags of their regiment- the bright colours fluttering in the wind.

"Onyx La'rua, prepare to break off to engage the targets. Kais, you come with me. Shi, stay back and disable their primitive locomotion systems. Xumxa, keep them busy. I'll damage them further, and R'alai will finish them off."

"TO'TAU'VA!"

My team and I sprung into action, Shi anchoring his battlesuit for stability, and laying down several highly accurate shots into the midsections of the leading walkers. I charged forewards, as Xumxa engaged his flight systems, and flew close to the ground in a wide arc around the cluster of walkers, keeping them penned and distracted with his burst cannons. As he did this, I began moving counter clockwise at a slower pace and pounding the suits with highly accurate fire from my ion blasters, the pulses turning the outer armour of the walkers to mush, all while shedding high-energy ionised particles that would inflict their unshielded users with mild cancers. As I disabled each one, R'alai pounded the damaged walkers with fusion fire, blowing their cockpits into molten slag. Three tried to retreat, but were quickly taken down by Shi. Just as I was about to take down another of the primitive machines, my battlesuit's leg was caught on the wreckage of a downed walker.

I tumbled out of control, my suit flashing warnings as my suit tumbled across the grassy terrain, eventually slamming into a rocky outcrop. I felt a wincing pain, as my suit's biofeedback system failed to dull the pain of impact fully. As I was linked to the battlesuit fully, the unfortunate side affect of use was that damage to the systems of the suit would cause feedback through my nervous system, something the biofeedback systems were meant to dampen. Unfortunately, every system has it's limits, and the pain leaked through. I looked down, and saw that the leg that had been caught was still intact. However, when I clambered to my feet, the battlesuit was limping. In addition, my jetpack had been damaged, and was no longer flightworthy.

 _"Shas'vre! Are you alright?"_

I winced as a new stab of pain crested through the neural link. I gave the command to open communication frequencies. "I'm fine Shi. Are the walker's destroyed?"

 _"Yes Oni'ci. I do have some good news though,"_

"What would that be Shas'ui?" I said, limping back over to the others. Shi and the rest of my la'rua did not fail to notice my obvious limp, but they said nothing.

 _"The Gue'la forces are retreating. We managed to create a foothold, and our forces have captured over 76% of the planet's surface. We are to return to the drop point where a field operations centre has already been set up. At first light tomorrow we depart for the Gue'la city centre to begin securing it fully."_

"Good news indeed," I responded. "However, my suit's locomotion is heavily impaired, and my flight systems are broken. Can we call in a Orca to our position?"

I heard a snort of laughter over the comms channel: _"With your history with dropships, I'm surprised you want to ride in one again Oni'ci!"_ deadpanned Kais. _"I mean, you could easily bump your head with your new size!"_

"Watch it _Shas'ui_ ," I mocked over the laser-link. "You just might be sent to see the company Ethereal. Or worse, you might have to deal with Subcommander Spirit-Blade and his heavy-handed attitude."

 _"Duly noted. To'tau'vau Shas'vre."_

With that, Kais cut the channel. We waited around in the fields for a little while longer, before a Orca dropship descended to the ground, allowing my crippled suit to board alongside the rest of the team. Once all the team were onboard the specialised Crisis Dropship, the bay door closed, and the vehicle departed, heading back the way we came. What we didn't know was that the next few weeks would be ones filled with revelations. Revelations that would further convince me that the Empire was not as open as it seemed.

 _Author's Note: Well, thank you all for reading the first chapter of my follow-up story to Life, Death and the Greater Good. I know I said moths ago that I would be writing this story, and yes, I did take some time to deliver. Despite this, I do have some stuff to say about the first instalment. Firstly, I received a very troubling guest review that I moderated out due to inappropriate language. If the owner of that very insulting post would like to modify his/her/it's comments to better suit a member of the human race, I'd be happy to approve that review. Secondly, I will be remastering the first story to flow better, and to support some of the retcons from the original story. There was a very troubled writing process involved in the first story, and as such I would like to rewrite it in a clearer and slightly more structured way. In accordance with Fanfiction's policy that only one unique copy of a story can exist, I am going to delete the first story once the entire remastered version is up. Remastering it will not take long, as I have backups of the entire story stored on my mac as well as external hard drives. So for those who favorited or followed the previous story, you will have to change that to the remastered version once it is published. Thirdly, I will be going to the US the day after tomorrow, and will be mostly unavailable during this period. The year after, I will be mostly unable to write more, as I have some personal stuff going on, and the year after that I will be completely unavailable, as I will be taking a planned break from all online activities to attempt to clear my head._

 _So thanks to all me readers for the past year. I know I've failed to be consistent in my publishing, and I know that some of my stories have not been up to par in places, but I will be back I two years. Well, I'll be around next year, but consider me to be on hiatus. I'll pop in from time to time, and I'll be around a bit, but don't expect many updates to occur till 2019. Sorry about the long wait, but I promise I'll be back._

 _Sincerely:_

 _Crazy Minh AKA Jake Loh._


	2. Chapter 2

_Tau Ti'ka, Primary hangar; Planet Hyros. 034.002.M42._

I stepped out of the cockpit of my damaged crisis suit as a group of Earth Caste engineers swept over, their drones carrying their strange and unfamiliar tools. I stepped aside as they began working as one on the damaged leg of my unit. They did not glance my way, and they worked as part of the same machine. I smiled as I walked towards the debriefing area where my teammates waited with our platoon commander. We were the last team to return, and the last to be debriefed. Before I reached him however, a breathless Shas'saal came running up to me.

"Shas'vre Oni'ci!"

I turned to look at the young cadet. I remembered that a few cadets in their final year at a training academy were assigned to battlezones as support personnel, as a way of receiving experience with the environment of true military service. They usually ran messages when drones were unavailable, helped with Ka'reh duties in the mess, manned the sli'kata consoles in the communications centres, and also did other menial duties. This one was wearing the blue lo'vada of a Cadet Squad leader. he saluted as he came up beside me, his head reaching my shoulders. I smiled, and returned the salute. He bowed, and handed me a Sli'vesa showing a map of the base.

"Commander…Shas'O Shaserra has requested your presence elsewhere in the base. Your platoon commander has been informed of the change, and will be debriefing your team. Please go to the location specified on this map."

"Thank you cadet. What is your name?"

He looked white. "I haven't chosen a official name, but my squad calls me Shas'saal Shas'tira"

"They call you Flashfire? A good name… Dismissed cadet."

"Thank you sir. To'tau'va!" replied Flashfire eagerly. He turned and ran off, presumable to go back to his commanding officer. I looked down at the tablet. It was currently displaying a flashing red dot at my destination, and a blue triangle where I was. A green line showed a optimal route to the meeting room. I set off, walking out of the hangar, and down the long corridor that my path lay along.

When I reached the nondescript room, I pressed the intercom button to request entry. A beep indicated the door was open. Inside, the room was empty. I frowned, before Commander Shadowsun decloaked right in front of me, wearing her battlesuit. Her helmet was off, but had been obscured by the powerful stealth field projectors her experimental armour mounted. Her fusion blasters were thankfully absent. I bowed at the waist as was deemed respectful to high commanders of the Fire Caste. She sternly gazed at me as I straightened.

"Shas'vre Oni'ci. It's been a while since I saw you last."

"It has, Shas'O."

"Is your team well?"

"All members accounted for."

"Bar one particular, I presume?"

I frowned, wondering why Shadowsun was bringing up the painful circumstances that had placed me under her command. Three years ago, my team and I had been part of a operation to recover a lost drone carrying important information. We had fought our way to a abandoned Gue'la headquarters, only to find ourselves surrounded by strange creatures that our Gue'vesa friend had called 'Daemons'. We had fought the horrific aliens off, but we had lost one of our own in the process. Shas'la Kles'ro had been abducted by a 'commander' caste of the aliens, and carried off into the sky. We had never seen him again. Although by all accounts he should be KIA, I had found myself feeling that we had not seen the last of our friend.

Shadowsun gazed at me, gauging the effect of her question. She walked to a console, and tapped in a sequence of codes. A graphic came up on the wall screen. It was a security feed from a Tau facility labelled as _Ek'kles'kyata Neg'Xor'Dolu._ Shadowsun pressed another icon, and the feed began to play. A group of strange gue'la came running through the scene, carrying jagged pieces of metal as weapons. Some carried the puny laser weapons of the Gue'la military. Following them were more of those strange monsters, and walking behind them, flanked by two medium-sized creatures was Kles'ro.

"What! What is this?"

Shas'O Shaserra sighed. "This footage clearly shows the missing soldier from your team Shas'la Kles'ro Mont'yr. He is the commander of this enemy force, and they were attacking a Tau facility. This is why called you here. This is why I'm sending you and your team after him."

She appeared to be talking about the video, but I realised she was talking about a hologram of a battlesuit that was floating in mid-air. It was simular to a standard crisis suit, but featured sleeker lines, hands like those from a Commander unit, and a large shield generator on one arm. It carried a fusion blaster, as well as a shoulder-mounted seeker missile pod.

"This is the prototype for the next-generation Crisis battlesuit. The Earth Caste call it the XV8-87. It is designed to be fast, agile, and extremely powerful. It takes what we learned from the Coldstar and Crisis Enforcer battlesuits, as well as recent developments in reactor technology. It is a one-of-a-kind suit, and was designed as a test platform for next-gen technology. However, the scientists involved in it's design were slaughtered in the raid, and the suit stolen by your former teammate."

The commander bought up images of the base after the attack. Tau corpses lay everywhere, and the buildings were smoking ruins. Strange sigils were painted everywhere, their edges glowing red like small fires.

"Your mission is to pursue the raiding party. We are tracking their position, as one of our ships managed to plant a long-range tracker drone on their hull before they left our space. They appear to be making a deadline through this area of space, right towards gue'la territory. As a result, they will be passing through this space sometime soon."

"Why have they not used that strange method of travel that the Gue'la seem to use? The one where they do not have to traverse normal space?"

"They stole a Tau vessel to escape," replied Shadowsun. "and we do not have such technology."

"When do we depart, Neg'soko'O?"

"Immediately," replied the Supreme commander of the Tau Fire Caste. "You depart right now."

 ** _Glossary of Tau phrases in order of appearance. Words I have invented are marked with a *_**

 **Ti'ka** : A Tau field command centre, set up on a planet after arrival, or airdropped from orbit. They are modular, and include hangars, command centres, barracks and medbays. *

 **Shas'saal** : The lowest rank in the Fire cast, and Tau culture as a whole. Shas'saal are cadets in the Tau military academies, and are aged between 11 and 16. After graduation at around 17, Tau Shas'saal are promoted to Shas'la, and assigned to fireteams to fight battles for the Greater Good.

 **Shas'vre** : The third highest rank in the Fire Caste. Shas'vre soldiers usually are battlesuit team leaders, or pilot specialised units such as the Riptide, the Ghostkeel or other such vehicles.

 **Oni'ci** : Shadowborn, literally 'From the Hidden'. Both a personal name, and a description. Mostly popularised in the Tau Empire, and not the Farsight Enclaves.

 **Ka'reh** : Mess duty, involving preparing meals, cleaning dishes and mopping floors. Used only as punishment, as drones usually do this work, and no supervision is required for such duties. Other than discipline, it is used to educate final year Shas'saal on training trips to the front lines in the ways of working as part of the Tau war machine. *

 **Sli'kata** : The consoles used all around the Tau empire. Rapidly being replaced by drone interfaces as a means of control, they still exist in older models of command centres and older vehicles. Some of the veteran pilots and console operators swear by them, and refuse to use the drone-based controls. *

 **Lo'vada** : A sash worn over one shoulder by Shas'saal as a means of identifying their position in a training team. worn only by the Team Leader and the Team Noncom. Blue indicates a team leader, while orange indicates the noncom trainee. *

 **Sli'vesa** : A tablet computer, used by the Tau for a variety of purposes. About the same size and shape as a current-day iPad Air, although making a comparison between the two would be like comparing a abacus to a supercomputer. *

 **Shas'O** : The highest rank in the Tau empire, only held by the most revered commanders to live. The most experienced in their fields, they are the only members of the Fire Caste allowed to retire from military service to become instructors or to settle into civilian life. Notable commanders include the late Commander Puretide, and his students Shas'O Shaserra, Shas'O Shovah and Shas'O Kais.

 **Shaserra** : The supreme commander of the Tau Fire Caste, and the leader of the current Tau expansion force. Known as Commander Shadowsun in the human tongue, she pilots a specialised XV22 Stealthsuit, equipped with dual fusion blasters. She is the last daughter of the renowned Fire Caste Commander Kiru, her two sisters having been killed in action in various theatres. Currently, she heads the Fifth Sphere Expansion of the Tau empire.

 **Shas'tira** : Flashfire, literally 'Flash of Fire'. A personal name based of the legend of the ancient Tau warrior Shas'ruka, who is renowned for breaking the siege at the Earth Caste city of Lo'hora'tira. Lo'hora'tira still stands on the tau homeworld today, a statue of the warrior erected at it's centre. *

 **To'tau'va** : A phrase meaning 'For the Greater Good'.

 **Gue'la** : The tau identification for the Human Race and the Imperium of Mankind. Translates to 'Lesser Soldiers', and accurately illustrates the Tau Empire's disposition towards the horrific machine that is the Imperium.

 **Shas'la** : The basic rank in the fire caste. Shas'la are the footsoldiers and form the bulk of the Fire Caste ranks. They are extremely well-equipped compared to the soldiers of the Imperium, and carry either the long-range and accurate Pulse Rifle, or the fast-firing but short-ranged Pulse Carbine.

 **Kles'ro:** A personal name in the Tau lexicon meaning 'Extremely Gifted'.

 **Ek'kles'kyata** : Literally 'Bastion of Knowledge in the Tau lexicon. Used as a identifier for Tau research facilities, followed by a number in the Tau numeral system. *

 **Mont'yr** : 'The Blooded'. A personal name, given to Tau who have made their first kill. Quite common, and considered to be a warrior's first commendation.

 **Neg'soko'O** : A honorific, meaning 'Honoured individual'. Literally 'One of Highest Honour' *


	3. Chapter 3

_KVA Aun'shas'vira. 4_ _th_ _Lagrange Point between the Planet Hyros and it's third moon. 034.002.M42_.

I sat in the command cradle of my battlesuit, waiting for the drop order. After the meeting with Shadowsun, me and my team had been quickly rushed via shuttle up to the orbiting Lar'shi class starship Kor'Vattra Aun'varttros (KVA) _Celestial Firefly_. The vessel was currently en route to the interception point where the stolen starship carrying the prototype battlesuit (and Kles'ro) would be passing through at sublight speeds. The timing of this operation had to be exact, as the enemy craft was using the gravity of Hyros and their own Gravitic Hook systems to execute a slingshot out of the system. It was by pure luck that the offensive on Hyros took place when the scientific outpost in the neighbouring system was attacked. It was also luck that a violent spacial turbulence pocket (called 'warp storms' by the Gue'la) was blocking the alternate route in a nearby area. It seemed like too much luck to be true, but we couldn't worry about that. Later, I would look back with full knowledge of the Gue'la entities called the Chaos Gods, and know that this was not luck, but planned in a almost paranoid fashion with elements far overlaying our own mortal understanding. But, at the time, I followed orders.

Me and my team were in our battlesuits, which had been carried up with us. We were already inside them, the suits on minimal power while the trip was in progress. However, the suits were still being refitted for space operations. While I sat in the cockpit, earth cast engineers quickly stripped out the battlesuit's jetpack, and replaced it with a unit capable of dogfighting in the vacuum of space. My battlesuit was fitted with better life support systems as to survive in the vacuum for longer. As I sat there, I was fiddling with my personal Sli'vesa, playing a game of digital Lasso'elr. I had been told by some of the Gue'vesa that I had met that the game was simular to the human game of Billiards, which dated back to before their civilisation began to collapse under it's oppressive weight. While the game I was playing was mainly for the children of the non-warrior castes, and was occasionally played by Fire Caste cadets for it's strategic aspects, the game was still popular among the Gue'vesa who had come to the empire to join the Tau'va. I still played it, and often had games with my Niam'ro'cha, even after our promotion to battlesuit pilots. We had become a tighter group after our first mission, which had put us together very quickly, allowing little time to develop interpersonal relations. Afterwards, we had bonded and formed a even greater whole than before. Right now, I was playing a game with R'alai and Kais. I was losing, as out of the 24 balls, I had only sunk two. If I were to win, I would need to sink six more balls. The changing colour of the balls had complicated things, as I hadn't played the game digitally before, and the fio'arpo's of the game had changed the time between colour shifts from a single round, to each turn. This had frustrated me, as I was going last each round, meaning that any strategy I had would have to be changed twice by the time the turn was mine.

I was just about to use the Itcho'la I was controlling with my finger to pocket my third ball (finally!) when my battlesuit cockpit lit up. I could hear the earth caste engineers clambering off the hull, and the hiss of the bay I was in depressurising for my suit to egress. I stowed my sli'vesa, and ran a pre-flight check. Everything was functioning normally. The face of the Air-caste captain in charge of the ship popped up on my communications display.

 _"Shas'vre Oni'ci. We are about to reach intercept range of the enemy ship. We already have her on sensors. Prepare yourself and your team for deployment within the next three rai'kor."_

I cleared my throat and replied in the affirmative. The communications channel clicked off, and I opened channels to my team. Simultaneously, I ran final diagnostic checks on all my suit's systems. My new jetpack was fully functional. Weapons were online and reporting nominal. Targeting sensors online and ready. My suit's vesa was operating normally. Reactor outputting 80% power and fully functional. Shield generator online. I was ready. My team reported similarly, each reporting their suits were ready for combat. I looked at the countdown clock that had appeared in the corner of my vision. Ten raik'an till drop. I waited in mounting tension. I could already hear the thumps of our starship's weapons firing, launching drone-controlled munitions and unguided railgun shells towards the enemy ship. The scream of tortured metal and the sound of explosions could occasionally be heard as a lucky shot slammed through the shields and tore rents in the hull, damaging our vessel's systems. I could only imagine what the crew aboard the stolen frigate would be experiencing on their end, their ship being faced with the full fury of a Hero-class cruiser. Finally, the moment came. My suit was launched forewards along a magnetic catapult, shooting out into the middle of the battle. Immediately, I ran into the strange creatures, who were pouring from the vessel, their wings defying all logic and managing to propel them through space, despite the lack of a atmosphere to fly on. I began firing my ion blaster, beams of blue-green energy lancing out into the enemy. Ion technology was a gift from the Demiurg, who had developed the technology as a tool for mining. They weren't just rock cutters though. Each shot was a visible beam of charged particles, which were immersed in a semi-plasmic conduit of energy. The shots turned matter hit by the beam into slag, the constituent atomic bonds disintegrating and creating an immense release of thermal energy. Basically, they caused matted to dissolve and explode. A perfect weapon to fight any foe.

However, many of my shots were ineffective. The beams either stopped short of their target, or were reflected into space by some kind of energy shield. Those that did hit diffused across the creature's armoured skin like water running down the sides of a boulder during the monsoon season on Sa'cea. The energy wrapped itself around the creature's body like angry Moghai, slithering round before dissipating into the void. I switched to my missile pod on my left shoulder. This did manage to do some damage, the missiles exploding on the creature's skin and creating gaping wounds. I fired off another two volleys, and dodged a beam of cracking energy that erupted from the mouth of my target. The beam passed right by my cockpit, and I could hear the cracking of the beam through the hull of my suit.

 _"Oni'ci! Are you alright?"_

"I'm fine Kais. You worry about yourself." I replied, launching a volley of projectiles that finally killed the creature, sending chunks of it's flesh spinning off into the void. "Besides, I'll bet you 50 fio'diklun that Xumxa will be the first to be waxed."

 _"Hey! I'm the fastest here. It'll be Shi who gets it!"_

I smiled. "Shi? Any reply to that?"

The marksman was perched atop the hull of our ship, bracing his suit against the hull. He was picking off targets nearby, keeping our airspace clean while the cruiser's Close-in weapons dealt with the threats to the ship. He only replied with a short grunt. He was obviously busy, or otherwise indisposed.

I spotted a flare of red light heading our way. My sensors magnified it, and identified it as a battlesuit.

"Be advised that the prototype is moving this way. Shoot to…oh Snae'kekan! "

The reason for my cuss was simply. The once graceful exterior of the battlesuit had been twisted into a monstrous parody of a xar'vesa. The plating was now mottled with fleshy tendrils that twisted across the exterior like cables. Gory spikes and plates had been fused to the exterior, their material either bone or metal…or a combination. A halo of the hellish fire that the monsterous creatures that were swarming round the stolen ship surrounded the suit. The suit's vents and exhaust glowed blood red. Instead of a ranged weapon, the suit carried a primitive hunk of metal that my vesa identified hesitantly as a battleaxe. The metal was more roughly hammered hull plating than a actual weapon. This was a problem. But, it was about to get worse.

"What do you mean 'Kles'ro is piloting that battlesuit?"

Shi sighed. _"I ran a sensor sweep on the battlesuit, as a way of finding weaknesses. I gathered a ton of data, none of it relevant to the current situation- bar one thing. Kles'ro's implanted tracking device that he was issued at the academy is online. It places him right inside that suit."_

"Are you sure?" I asked while dodging more beams of energy from the creatures, my missile pod firing into group of the strange aliens, further chewing through my heavily depleted ammunition reserves. I checked the status of the ammunition. Ten missiles left before I was out. I couldn't replenish the ammunition during battle, as the hopper containing the ammunition was buried within my suit's shoulder, and required a team of Fio'ui engineers to correctly disengage the latches. This was why the missile pod was considered a secondary weapon, due to it's limited ammunition supply.

 _"Positive. The signal's weak, but I'm getting biorhythmic response. The medical sensor is probably damaged however. I'm getting abnormally high blood pressure, body temperature and the ECG data is reading 'Unknown input'. But Kles'ro is alive!"_

 _"And he's piloting the suit that's flying to attack us. I think it's safe to say that the giant blade that he's carrying isn't for ceremonial purposes like our bonding knives."_ R'alai said, gesturing to her bonding knife strapped to the side of the battlesuit's waist. The knives had been made to order by the technicians in the Battlesuit workshops when we were promoted to pilots. The knives were a optional thing, as they often got in the way, and were not very useful for actual combat. Most teams simply painted symbols of their knives on the hulls of their battlesuits. However, my team had chosen to take the crisis-sized knives. We wore them proudly, the names of each of our teammates laser etched into the lower section of the blade. Even if members of our team were to fall, even if we were to be split up, the knives would let us remember those who had served as part of our Team of Eight.

"Comrades, I think we should take the side of caution here. He's closing rapidly on our position. Break formation, and prepare to fight."

 _"Roger that, To'tau'va"_

 _"To'tau'va Shas'ui"_

 _"Affirmative."_

 _"Copy that."_

 _"To'tau'va."_

 _"Preparing for battle."_

I set my mouth into a flat line. "But remember: Kles'ro is still our teammate. No matter what has happened to him, we must try not to kill him- if at all possible. If anything, it should be me who gets to land the killing blow. I'm the one who is responsible for his capture."

 _"Oni'ci-"_ began Kais before I cut the channel. I opened my throttles up wide, and charged my ion blaster. I was ready for battle. I was not going to let my friend die.

 **Glossary of Tau words. Words invented by me for this story and it's predecessor are marked with a ***

 ** _Glossary of Tau phrases in order of appearance. Words I have invented are marked with a *_**

 **Ti'ka** : A Tau field command centre, set up on a planet after arrival, or airdropped from orbit. They are modular, and include hangars, command centres, barracks and medbays. *

 **Shas'saal** : The lowest rank in the Fire cast, and Tau culture as a whole. Shas'saal are cadets in the Tau military academies, and are aged between 11 and 16. After graduation at around 17, Tau Shas'saal are promoted to Shas'la, and assigned to fireteams to fight battles for the Greater Good.

 **Shas'vre** : The third highest rank in the Fire Caste. Shas'vre soldiers usually are battlesuit team leaders, or pilot specialised units such as the Riptide, the Ghostkeel or other such vehicles.

 **Oni'ci** : Shadowborn, literally 'From the Hidden'. Both a personal name, and a description. Mostly popularised in the Tau Empire, and not the Farsight Enclaves. *

 **Ka'reh** : Mess duty, involving preparing meals, cleaning dishes and mopping floors. Used only as punishment, as drones usually do this work, and no supervision is required for such duties. Other than discipline, it is used to educate final year Shas'saal on training trips to the front lines in the ways of working as part of the Tau war machine. *

 **Sli'kata** : The consoles used all around the Tau empire. Rapidly being replaced by drone interfaces as a means of control, they still exist in older models of command centres and older vehicles. Some of the veteran pilots and console operators swear by them, and refuse to use the drone-based controls. *

 **Lo'vada** : A sash worn over one shoulder by Shas'saal as a means of identifying their position in a training team. worn only by the Team Leader and the Team Noncom. Blue indicates a team leader, while orange indicates the noncom trainee. *

 **Sli'vesa** : A tablet computer, used by the Tau for a variety of purposes. About the same size and shape as a current-day iPad Air, although making a comparison between the two would be like comparing a abacus to a supercomputer. *

 **Shas'O** : The highest rank in the Tau empire, only held by the most revered commanders to live. The most experienced in their fields, they are the only members of the Fire Caste allowed to retire from military service to become instructors or to settle into civilian life. Notable commanders include the late Commander Puretide, and his students Shas'O Shaserra, Shas'O Shovah and Shas'O Kais.

 **Shaserra** : The supreme commander of the Tau Fire Caste, and the leader of the current Tau expansion force. Known as Commander Shadowsun in the human tongue, she pilots a specialised XV22 Stealthsuit, equipped with dual fusion blasters. She is the last daughter of the renowned Fire Caste Commander Kiru, her two sisters having been killed in action in various theatres. Currently, she heads the Fifth Sphere Expansion of the Tau empire.

 **Shas'tira** : Flashfire, literally 'Flash of Fire'. A personal name based of the legend of the ancient Tau warrior Shas'ruka, who is renowned for breaking the siege at the Earth Caste city of Lo'hora'tira. Lo'hora'tira still stands on the tau homeworld today, a statue of Shas'ruka erected at it's centre. *

 **To'tau'va** : A phrase meaning 'For the Greater Good'.

 **Gue'la** : The tau identification for the Human Race and the Imperium of Mankind. Translates to 'Lesser Soldiers', and accurately illustrates the Tau Empire's disposition towards the horrific machine that is the Imperium.

 **Shas'la** : The basic rank in the fire caste. Shas'la are the footsoldiers and form the bulk of the Fire Caste ranks. They are extremely well-equipped compared to the soldiers of the Imperium, and carry either the long-range and accurate Pulse Rifle, or the fast-firing but short-ranged Pulse Carbine.

 **Kles'ro:** A personal name in the Tau lexicon meaning 'Extremely Gifted'.

 **Ek'kles'kyata** : Literally 'Bastion of Knowledge in the Tau lexicon. Used as a identifier for Tau research facilities, followed by a number in the Tau numeral system. *

 **Mont'yr** : 'The Blooded'. A personal name, given to Tau who have made their first kill. Quite common, and considered to be a warrior's first commendation.

 **Neg'soko'O** : A honorific, meaning 'Honoured individual'. Literally 'One of Highest Honour'

 **Aun'shas'vira** : Means 'Celestial Firefly' in the Tau'sia. Literally 'Celestial Fire Moth' *

 **Lar'shi** : Hero. Name of the most common Tau cruiser class in the Kor'Vattra forces.

 **Kor'Vattra:** The Air Caste fleet. Forms the bulk of the Tau space navy.

 **Aun'varttros** : Starship. Tau military starships are given the identifier KVV, standing for 'Kor'Vattra Aun'varttros' which means 'Air Caste Fleet Starship'. Example: ' _KVV Aun'shas'vira' *_

 **Lasso'elr** : A game simular to billiards or pool. The table is a eight-sided octagon with room for up to eight players. A series of 24 translucent balls are released from a recessed section in the corner of the table. These balls are small drones, and change colour at the end of a player's turn. The balls are hit via a cue-like pole, called a Itcho'la. The objective is to get three of the same coloured ball into a pocket in the corner of the table. However, as the balls change colour at the end of the round, players must think tactically about their moves. While the game is considered a child's game by most Tau, the game is immensely popular among the Gue'vesa living within the Empire, and there are many bets to be made on what colour the balls will change to and which player will ultimately succeed, ultimately resulting in a lot of lost credits. *

 **Itcho'la** : A cue-like pole used in Lasso'elr. Often fitted with aiming scopes and other widgets for 'enhanced' gameplay. *

 **Niam'ro'cha:** 'Team of 8'. A crisis suit team with 8 members.

 **Rai'kor** : Minutes.

 **Raik'an** : seconds

 **Sa'cea:** Tau sept world, founded in the second sphere expansion.

 **Moghai** : A snake-like creature that exists on the Tau's homeworld. Taken to other planets and introduced to deal with pests.

 **Fio'diklun** : While the Tau are often mistaken for having no currency, and therefore having no financial system, there is a form of currency called the Fio'Diklun (meaning 'Worker's Reward). This is a digital currency, which is stored within a chip implanted in a finger, or carried on a card. It is payed as a universal basic wage, but such a wage only pays for the basic upkeep of a individual. Individuals are encouraged to work to supplement these wages. The currency is used to pay for luxuries such as exotic food and drink, commodities such as sli'vesa or for public transport using the maglev system on most Tau worlds. *

 **Snae'kekan:** A exclamation simular to the Terran phrase 'frakkin hell!'. A form of inoffensive cussing in the Tau'sia. *

 **Xar'vesa:** Battlesuit.

 ** _Well, I finally got this chapter finished people! However long it took, I'm glad I finally got this out of the way after many months of stalled work. I'll be updating my fanfiction a bit more from now on, so look out for new chapters for other stories that are still in progress. There'll also be a bunch of new stories coming out. I've already released the first chapter of my new Star Trek story, and I'll be releasing a Dungeons and Dragons story about the campaign I'm currently playing with my group (upon the conclusion of the campaign), a Sword Art Online Abridged fanfiction following the diary of Kayaba as he struggles with sleep deprivation and stressful deadlines (prior and during the SAO incident from the abridged universe), and a few other stories that I'll think of along the way. I'm also starting a Paetron account to fund my living expenses while writing these stories._**


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